Vancouver retirement-home residents relieved they won't face eviction

Two weeks ago, the elderly residents of Terraces on 7th were tearfully reading eviction notices. Now, the Vancouver seniors are delighted — and relieved — by the news they will be able to live out their days in their suites.

Phyllis Burt holds her letter from the Terraces on 7th owner saying she and other elderly residents will be able to stay in their subsidized assisted-living suites — at current fees. Burt and fellow residents Rose Naguib, June Evans and Martine Donahue (standing, left to right) are happy and relieved by this week’s news.Gerry Kahrmann / PNG

Two weeks ago, the elderly residents of Terraces on 7th were tearfully reading eviction notices.

Now, the Vancouver seniors are delighted — and relieved — by the news they will be able to live out their days in their suites.

In the wake of public outrage over the ouster of the elderly residents — most of whom are women and two over 100 years old — from subsidized assisted-living suites at the posh seniors home, owner Azim Jamal has relented.

He sent out an e-mailed statement last week promising to abide by the contract’s original March 2019 end date instead of asking residents to move by September.

And this week’s reprieve is better than that, as the seniors learned by letter.

“Current subsidized residents of Terraces on 7th will remain residing in the Terraces on 7th and their tenancy will end on attrition,” the letter says. “The current resident fee amount will remain the same and the services and support you receive will continue to be provided.”

“I’m very, very pleased that it turned out the way it did,” Caroline Coutts, whose mother, 90-year-old Barbara Coutts, lives at the west side Vancouver home, said Wednesday after a residents meeting confirmed the news.

Caroline Coutts with her 90-year-old mother Barbara in front of Terraces on 7th in Vancouver late last month. âI’m very, very pleased that it turned out the way it did,â Caroline Coutts says of the complexâs ownerâs reversal of its original plan to have 21 elderly residents move out of their subsidized assisted-living suites.Arlen Redekop /
PNG Files

She said it’s not clear why Retirement Concepts released a statement to the media that it would honour its contract only up to March 2019, and has informed residents they are welcome to stay as long as they’d like.

The residents were told the home withdrew the eviction notices after hearing their concerns.

The company made the announcement a day after the NDP, at a news conference in front of Terraces, called for the B.C. government to prevent the evictions by grandfathering the 21 residents in the 19 suites.

Coutts said once the suites are vacated, the residents will be replaced with private-pay tenants.

The company has given no specific reason why the subsidized suites, for which rents are capped at 70 per cent of residents’ income, are no longer going to be offered at Terraces, except to say it was a “business decision.” Other suites are rented, starting at $4,600 a month, according to a resident, or are privately owned.

NDP MLA George Heyman, in whose Vancouver-Fairview riding the home operates, has said private homes that receive subsidies for assisted-living suites should “never, ever” be allowed to end contracts except through attrition because of the negative affects of moving on the elderly.

Vancouver-Fairview NDP MLA George Heyman (right) with Terraces on 7th resident Dorthy Pelletier outside the complex last week. Heyman says that private homes receiving subsidies for assisted-living suites should ânever, everâ be allowed to end contracts except through attrition because of the negative affects of moving on the elderly.Gerry Kahrmann /
PNG Files

“We already have language in our agreements with care providers that provides for the negotiation of a reasonable transition of residents at the termination of a contract, and attrition is always our preference,” Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman Gavin Wilson said in an e-mail.

The B.C. Care Providers Association announced last week it had struck a task force to review the issue of subsidized assisted-living suites and is expected to release its recommendations by the end of May.

“VCH is taking part in that review, and we will wait for the resulting recommendations before we consider taking any further steps,” said Wilson.

The association’s CEO, Daniel Fontaine, has said he was leaving recommendations to the three-member task force but said, “I would like them to look at that (attrition for current residents).”

The task force has invited representation from VCH and Fraser Health and will consult with home operators and seniors and their families.

Retirement Concepts was recently approved for sale to Anbang Insurance, a Chinese investment firm, in an estimated $1-billion deal.

Terraces, which offers a dining room with mountain and city views, private theatre, library, games room, bistro bar/piano lounge and gym with a spa/beauty salon, wasn’t included in the deal.

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